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Mission

EVAN focuses on the integration of new morphological analysis
methods from biomathematics, computer science and bioengineering in the
context of interdisciplinary studies of anatomical variability in
humans, their ancestors, and their close relatives for the purpose of
applications in the academic, clinical, industrial, and
private&public research sectors. The new methods are integrated in
our network with a rich infrastructure from medical imaging,
3D-digitisation, visualisation, software programming and modelling to
interlink a new generation of scientists from diverse disciplines with
industrial partners and clinics where basic research can immediately be
converted into applications. The areas of application include
development and growth, early detection of diseases, orthodontics,
surgical intervention, forensics, prosthetics, evolutionary biology,
human origins, biometric identification, and teaching.

Societal benefits of this proposed network will be the outstanding
interdisciplinary and intersectorial training opportunities for young
scientists which will draw together a critical mass of
researchers,industrial partners, and science journalists dispersed
across Europe into a coherent framework, thus developing additional
European potential in these areas, at the same time avoiding
redundancy.

Our proposed advances in understanding human variability include
also improvements in quality of life for European citizens that will
arise from better medical diagnosis and treatment planning, improved
implant technology, deeper understanding of human growth, development
and evolution, and timely
education in these areas.

The network will raise public awareness and provide a data and
knowledge archive for restructuring European data resources such as
detailed digital representations of rare or precious specimens together
with their documentation, and also amplify such efforts already funded
by the EU and others (NESPOS, digital@rchive Fossil Hominids).